Rebirth of a Segment! Driving the 2022 Ford Maverick & Talking Power, Price & Compact Pickups

G'day and welcome to the Truck King YouTube channel. Right beside me, 2022 Ford Maverick. Truly an exciting vehicle. Why? Because it's one more truck amongst a lot of trucks? No, because this signals the rebirth of the compact segment. Now that's a segment that has not been around for quite some time. As a matter of fact, was introduced back in the 60s when the Japanese gained a foothold in the North American truck market by bringing in small, cheap, compact trucks. And those were dead simple. And today we're gonna have a look at this Maverick from the point of view. Is it following in those footsteps or is it something entirely different? Let's get started with the walk around. But before we do, we have to give a huge shout out to Bourgeois Ford right here in Midland, Ontario for letting us use this Maverick today and provide this review to you. Now let's talk Maverick. So powering our truck today is the two liter inline four turbocharged engine. It makes 250 horsepower and 277 pound feet of torque sent through an eight speed automatic transmission. And here in Canada, you can only get this EcoBoost with all wheel drive. If you go for the hybrid, which is the base engine, that truck is actually front wheel drive. Now the Maverick you are looking at here today is the first edition. So it has a couple of special items on it. The big ones are the graphics. You're getting a hood graphic, a graphic over there on the door, and I'll show you the zoomed in shot. It actually says first edition right in the graphic. It's kind of cool. Now, other things that are part of the package, a set of unique 17 inch wheels. And I'll also say first edition is built off the Lariat. So this is a top trim truck. You're getting a black mirror caps here for your first edition as well. And this blacked out roof, plus a standard tonneau cover, which is not going to come on other Mavericks. If you go first edition, you're really looking to make your Maverick look nicer. And I do think this is a sharp looking truck. Of course, now I want you to have your say, go in the comments and let me know, what do you think of the styling here on this first edition Maverick? This is the business end of the Maverick. Ford calls it the flex bed. And I got to tell you, there is a lot going on back here. So in our bed here today, we do have a spray in bed liner, movable cleats up here in this track system, which is really nice. Of course, there are also two hard tie downs in each corner. But let me tell you about some of the real cool features. See this little cap right down here? Ford has actually run power to right here. And if you're a DIY guy, you want to install lights, I don't know what that requires power. It's right there waiting for you. That's really neat. And that's something that I've never seen any other manufacturer do. Now there is also a plug in this bed, plus LED lights if you're working at night. Now, of course, you're wondering, well, how big is it? That's probably its biggest downsize, right? It's not a big truck, so it's not a big bed. Four and a half feet you're getting at the bed floor without the tailgate down. Only 42 inches between those wheel wells, but about 53 inches when you move up here above the wheel wells. And I guess it's claim to fame is Ford says, you can fit a four by eight sheet of plywood in here. Now it's going to hang off the end a little bit, but you can do it if it's sitting up here on these wheel wells. Now let's talk towing and payload. So the truck we have here today does have the 4K towing package, and that gives away its rating. This truck can tow 4,000 pounds. And if you do get that package, of course you're getting the hitchback there. You're getting an integrated trailer brake controller, additional cooling, and a bit of a beefier rear end to help you pull the weight. Now, when it comes to payload, let's check the door jam sticker. On this truck here today, 1,328 pounds. So first drive here in the Maverick EcoBoost, and we're merging onto the highway. Let's feel the power here, Dad. Pretty nice, pretty nice smooth power. Smooth, it pulls, pulls okay. Yeah, for this, I mean, the size of the vehicle, you hear 255 horse, it doesn't sound massive, but because it's so small and light, yeah, it feels strong when you start driving it. So what I will have to tell you guys right off the bat, we actually have a Maverick lined up that we're gonna bring back to our test facility at Ironwood in about three weeks. So then we're gonna do towing, we're gonna do payload, the classic stuff. Today, like I mentioned, this truck is from a dealership, so we're just getting a little taste because we just wanted to drive a Maverick and just feel what it is all about. We've been anxious to do that. They've been doing that in the States, but up here we just haven't had one available yet. So luckily the dealer offered this up and we jumped on it, absolutely. So you got a sense for the power there. I think that the first thing I wanna say, and I said this when I sat in the Maverick the first time, it doesn't feel that small in here. We're two big Elmers in this truck and it just, it doesn't feel tight. It's not like you hop in and right away go, oh, I'm all cramped and uncomfortable. No, if you're a big fella, but you're worried about buying a small truck, yeah, this one has been designed properly. Yeah, I mean, we're not banging shoulders and there's enough room. And just in general, the cabin feels airy. That has a lot to do with the fact that it's got a lot of glass and a fairly high profile. And I mean, when you take a look at the headroom here, I'm six foot, Steve's six two. So, you know, even much taller guys, I think you're gonna be okay. And the adjustments for the seats, the placement of all the controls, the wheel, this is the kind of vehicle that you get in and you're not gonna actually notice that there's anything different about it. What you're gonna notice that there's nothing different about it from most trucks that you've driven. So it feels good. So next thing I wanna touch on is pricing because Ford has priced the Maverick aggressively. There's no doubt about that. So it's nice that we finally have what feels like, you know, a cheap option. And then there's also the hybrid. And dad, this is something, you know, that's very rare. The hybrid engine is the base engine in the Maverick. So you're gonna pay significantly less for the hybrid than you will for this EcoBoost. So, you know, I think just the strategy in terms of pricing, positioning and trims, I think is a home run. I really think Ford did it right. They intend to dominate this segment without a doubt. And now actually we talk about the segment that was sort of our intro. So here's the question I think I've got for you, dad. Midsize trucks, you know, really resurged in 14, 15 when GM brought back the Canyon Colorado twins. But we've been saying, and everyone kind of recognizes that even midsizers are feeling big these days. Now we've just got out of the Nissan Frontier. We've been doing tests for that truck. So my question to you now is driving the Maverick, how much different does it feel than a midsize truck? It doesn't. And mostly that's an element of width, not length. Because we've got about as much cab room in here as we do in a larger midsize. So where the difference is is in the bed. Four and a half foot bed versus a five and a half foot bed or a six and a half foot bed. So that's where we're losing usability is on the back end. It's also, it sits a little lower. This was actually parked beside a Ranger at the dealership. And you can see that it sits about three inches lower. Generally speaking, it just looks a little more squat. But there's almost no difference in width. So in other words, they haven't skimped out on the cabin. And handling wise, I'll tell you from the passenger seat, it feels a little stiff. And now we have the 4K towing package. So this truck is ready to accept a pretty big trailer. So I think that's what's going on. But what about just coming around corners side to side? Does it feel stiffer than a midsize, would you say? Or about the same? It's about the same. Ford has got its own feel anyway. I think most owners will tell you that. Because they're more focused on payload and towing, maybe than some. So it feels trucky. I don't know how else to explain that word. People understand what I'm saying. It just feels trucky. You're getting the feedback from the road. You can feel it coming out through the suspension and through the steering. Nice. So that's actually an interesting comment because I wanna talk a little bit about the Hyundai Santa Cruz now, which I think we can agree is the most direct competitor to this Maverick. And it's obvious how they approached this. Hyundai approached it as a company that builds crossovers successfully and basically said, let's make a truck out of a crossover. Ford approached it and said, no, we build trucks and this is going to be a truck. And no one is gonna question whether or not this is a truck. And that's exactly what they've done. And I think my biggest point to back this up, Dad, integrated trailer brake controller. There are still mid-sized trucks that don't have integrated trailer brakes. This can only tow 4,000 pounds. That's only 1,000 pound over the legal limit where you need trailer brakes. But we still have it. That to me is a massive deal because that is Ford saying, no, this is a truck, truck owner's tow, so you get the trailer brake. And that's the feeling I'm getting, right? This isn't some little small car with a bed on it. It's just a little truck. I think you've nailed it. Just one comment on the Santa Fe. When you drive the Santa Fe, it drives like a car. Yeah. And so, whereas this just drives like a truck, Santa Cruz. But yeah, Santa Cruz, pardon me. Make up some new names that I can remember. Okay, folks, we're actually headed back to the dealership now. I did mention this is just a short test drive, but I'm gonna do the one thing Dad didn't do. Put it in sport mode. We do have drive modes here. Slippery, eco, tow haul, normal, and sport. Oh, it downshifted right away. I like that. Hang on while I grab my holy, you know what handle. All right, well, let's take this corner in sport mode and see how she feels. And there's the curve. Nice, you know, nice and tight. Definitely less body roll than you'd feel in something like a Ranger or an F-150. You know, it doesn't have a bit of that wishy-wash going on. And that's what you want out of a small sort of, you know, unibody truck. Yeah, lower height. Yeah, this is not... Which is another thing that as an old guy, I'm gonna say this has got a great step in height, okay? I'm not crippled yet, but you don't have to climb up into this truck. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah, and you know what, to that point, load in height then too, right? Lifting things onto that rear deck. Yeah, for sure. It's just that much lower and it makes it that much more usable. Yeah, dad, I think time will tell, but I'd go out on a limb already and say that this compact market is going to grow like crazy soon. Because I think Ford's gonna sell a pile of Mavericks and then they're gonna have emergency meetings at Stellantis and at General Motors and say, we are missing the boat. Oh, that's coming. We need small trucks. They're not gonna have them. They've already had them. Trust me. Absolutely. Trust me. So yeah, I mean, of course, that's still a just a prediction for now, but I think that's pretty much a foregone conclusion. So we're excited for the new world of compact trucks. More models, more choice, more competition, and hopefully better prices eventually. Well, folks, we have arrived at the end of this one. Now, this was just a little taste. Pretty soon, we're gonna get one of these Mavericks, we're gonna tow with it, put weight in the bed, and then we'll tell you how it works. But based on driving it today, I have to tell you, I think Ford has a home run here. They've taken their truck strategy and just brought it down to a compact truck that's also affordable, and that's a win-win as far as I can see it. So now, of course, I want to hear from you. Please go in the comments, let me know what you think of the Maverick. As always, while you're down below, don't forget to hit like, hit that subscribe button, heck, hit that join button to become a member of the Truck King family, and then come right back here to the channel to see what we're testing next. See ya.